STANFORD CA -- February 23, 2005 - Stanford University
Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) today announce
the release of The Fairchild Chronicles, a three-hour
digital video documentary on Silicon Valley pioneer Fairchild
Semiconductor.
Through interviews with the people who made it
happen, the Fairchild Chronicles tells the story
of the company that invented the integrated circuit, describing
the events that spawned the first generation of Silicon Valley
technology companies. The DVD was co-produced by Rob Walker from
Walker Research Associates of Menlo Park, and Kevin Bomberry
from Panalta, Inc. of Palo Alto, and is based on the Stanford
University archival project “Silicon
Genesis,” a
series of video oral histories of Silicon Valley. It is available
for $39.95 at Panalta, Inc. 250 Emerson Street, Palo Alto CA
94301. All revenues
go to the Stanford University Libraries to continue chronicling
the history of the semiconductor industry. The Fairchild
Chronicles is also viewable online at: http://silicongenesis.stanford.edu.
The Fairchild Chronicles is told
in the words of those who lead the company, including Gordon
Moore, Wilf Corrigan, Jerry Sanders, and Charlie Sporck. It
covers the period from Fairchild’s founding in 1957 to
the purchase of the company by National Semiconductor in 1986.
Many anecdotes appearing throughout the DVD are revealed publicly
for the first time.
"Scholars, teachers, and anyone interested in the history
of high tech will welcome this DVD,” said Leslie Berlin of
Stanford, author of "Entrepreneurship and the rise of Silicon
Valley: the career of Robert Noyce, 1956-1990." (Stanford
Ph.D. diss. 2001). “Rob Walker, himself a veteran of
the semiconductor industry, has given us a rare chance to share
the memories and hear the stories behind Silicon Valley's first
successful chip company, Fairchild Semiconductor.”
The documentary is entirely drawn from material
located within the Stanford University Libraries’ “Silicon
Genesis” collection
(http://silicongenesis.stanford.edu).The
Silicon Genesis collection is unique in its careful attention
to the long-term preservation of the interviews, and its innovative
use of technology allowing for full text searching of interview
transcripts and corresponding video.
“Silicon Genesis has been designed to meet many types of
research needs, with full interviews available over the web or
in archival formats, searchable video, and transcriptions,” said
Dr. Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science and Technology
Collections, at Stanford University Libraries and Academic
Information Resources (SULAIR). “The Fairchild Chronicles extends
this flexibility by offering a selection of clips from these
interviews organized around a specific theme, demonstrating
the ways in which the interviews offer different perspectives
on a shared history.”
In addition to Dr. Lowood, Rob Walker has been the driving force
behind both the documentary and the Silicon Genesis Project on
which it is based. The Silicon Valley native and engineer has been
involved with semiconductors since the 1960s at Fairchild and Intel,
and as a founder of LSI Logic. Walker is also the author of Silicon
Destiny: The Story of Application Specific Integrated Circuits
and LSI Logic Corporation (Milpitas: C.M.C. Publications, 1992;
available at walkerresearch.com). His involvement in this
project goes back to 1995.
“With the passing of Bob Noyce, I became convinced that
the history of the pioneers of semiconductors and of Silicon Valley
should be preserved on video oral histories. I was overjoyed when
I found Stanford felt the same way, and so we began a collaboration
that has continued since 1995 with more than 30 oral histories
recorded to date,” said Rob Walker.
“The archival record of the semiconductor industry has always
been a key component of our archives, beginning with the papers
of William Shockley, and the historical records and photography
collections of Fairchild, National and other companies,” said
Dr. Henry Lowood. “The Silicon Genesis Project, which
we started together with Rob Walker, has been our primary effort
to add to that record through videotaped oral histories of
semiconductor industry pioneers.”
"These informative and entertaining interviews literally
put a face on the history of Silicon Valley. They were indispensable
for my own work," said Ross Bassett, North Carolina State
University, author of “To the Digital Age: Research Labs,
Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology (Johns Hopkins
Univ. Press, 2002).
"Silicon Valley -- the area immediately surrounding
Stanford University-- is known throughout the world as the cradle
of the semiconductor industry," said George Scalise, president
of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). "SIA is
very pleased to support the Stanford University Silicon Genesis
Project, a unique program created to capture the innovative spirit
of Silicon Valley in the words of the pioneers who made it happen."
In addition to the Fairchild Chronicles,
several future projects drawing on the Silicon Genesis project
are in the works, including one on the history of the development
of the integrated circuit. “As the Silicon Valley Archives grow through new
accessions such as the recently acquired photographic collection
of Doug Menuez, Silicon Genesis will always stand out as one of
our most frequently consulted resources.” said Henry Lowood. “Rob
Walker and Kevin Bomberry have demonstrated the vast potential
of an archive like ours. The material that we have currently,
and continue to add, is really a treasure trove for research.”
See also: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/march9/fairchild-030905.html
